


HIRAETH

by GetRektSisterGertrude



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ghosts, Loneliness, M/M, Mental Instability, New Year's Eve, Plot Twists, Psychological Trauma, Sad Ending, Supernatural Elements, Tragedy, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 19:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9672578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GetRektSisterGertrude/pseuds/GetRektSisterGertrude
Summary: All he ever wanted was a home to return to after a busy day. He wished for a place that belongs only to him. A place he could call home, a place where it was quiet and warm. A place where someone would be waiting for him, to tell him “Welcome home”. A place to keep promises that would never break.





	

**HIRAETH**

 

The air is cold, the streets covered under a thin layer of ice. The lanterns are throwing bluish light upon the white snow on the ground. Smoke floats above the grey city in the distance. A young man stands alone on the bridge between the city and the mountains. The city lights reflect themselves in the water of the river that separates the city and the land of nature. A dim light glows in the dark, cigarette smoke escapes from his warm body. It's a quiet night outside the usually busy city streets. No business men rushing, no students pushing, no noises except the young man's breathing. Soundly, a rhythmic noise, steps crushing snowflakes.

 

It's almost midnight, yet, the man stands alone on the old bridge. Waiting, longing for something that might not come. Not this year, not last year and maybe not even next year. He has no place to return to, not without the name he has longed to hear. That name is his home. That name wanders around the world. That name belongs to someone he has been waiting for to return to him, home.

 

The young man throws his last cigarette on the ground and leans over the railing, staring into the deep dark water beneath him. Half of this bridge broke down many years ago, he remembers. Back then he was still young, a High School student maybe. The island on the other side, which was connected to this bridge, used to be his hideout from the noisy city. The young man remembers that day as clear as the water underneath him.

 

It was a hot summer day. A day like any other day. Noisy, disgustingly noisy and hot. He wanted to run away, far far away. That day he was standing on this exact bridge, like today, staring into the clear blue water, reflecting white clouds from the sky. He heard steps approaching him, a young boy smiling brightly. He didn't say anything. They were just looking at each other and it was as if time stood still for a moment. In the blink of an eye, the ground started rumbling and crumbling. The next thing he knew, they were falling. What was the cause? Half the bridge was gone. Now the Island is deserted.

 

A big river separating nature and city life, between them an isolated island.

 

The man let out a sigh and buries his face into his cold hands. His nose is red from the cold, so are his cheeks. His long black hair covers half his face. How long has he been waiting? Slowly he forces himself to look at the watch around his right wrist. Three more minutes until midnight. Soon they will start the firework. Soon, it would have been another year alone. Soon, he would have given up on waiting. Maybe, just maybe, it would have been better if he had moved on sooner. What was he doing? Waiting year after year for that guy to return?

 

He chuckles. How stupid for an old man like him to believe in something like true love?

 

How stupid...

 

All he ever wanted was a home to return to after a busy day. He wished for a place that belongs only to him. A place he could call home, a place where it was quiet and warm. A place where someone would be waiting for him, to tell him “Welcome home”. A place to keep promises that would never break.

 

“What am I doing?,” he asks himself before the firework starts shooting into the night sky.

 

Colourful sparks like stars, yet, the noise was too much for him to bear.

 

Not again, I am all alone again.

 

The young man covers his ears and sits down, leaning against the bridges railing. That's it. Today makes it almost ten years since he last saw that man. Almost ten years and now, he has become too tired of waiting. Eating alone in an empty house, sleeping alone in a big bed meant for two people. Living alone, laughing alone, smiling alone. Nothing left from the scent he used to know, nothing left from the voice he used to hear. Nothing left from the smiles he used to see. He is tired of being lonely and pitiful in a place full of memories that will never return. That place is not his home. That city is not his home.

 

“Hiro-san.”

 

He gasps after hearing that voice. That voice. Voice.

 

“I knew you would be here.”

 

Hiro holds back his tears. He bites his lips, forcing himself to stand tall after almost ten years of loneliness. He keeps telling himself it's too late now. It's too late now, he repeats.

 

“I'm sorry, Hiro-san. It took longer than expected. “

 

It's too late now. He clenches his fists.

 

“Sorry... you say?,” he quietly whispers as the wind carries away his words.

 

The man behind him stands still. Hiro closes his eyes and listens to the heartbeat underneath the thick coat, the skin, flesh and ribs. He listens to the familiar sounds of that man's breathing, feels his presence and smells his scent filling the cold air around him.

 

“You dare to come back after all these years?,” he continues to ask.

“Who do you think I am? Are you pitying me? I don't want to see your face.”

 

“Hiro-san...”

 

“Go away!”

 

That boy on the bridge, smiling brightly. He was holding onto a fishing rod and a small plastic bucket. His skin was tanned from playing too much under the hot summer sky. His hair was bright brown like the earth in the forest. He remembers the sounds of cicadas, the sound of water and even today he can still smell the scent of dry sand underneath his feet. The bridge fell apart, an earthquake and then darkness.

 

Hiro rises his hand, only to brush over the scar on his forehead. That day, the unknown boy saved him.

 

“Please, don't do this to me, Hiro-san,” the man begs and takes a step forward.

 

Hiro stares at the firework reflecting in the river. Parts of that man's words went under the loud noises from the city. He forgot to cover his ears. He forgot the warmth of that man's arms around him, the warmth of that unknown boys smile.

 

“I came back, didn't I? I came back to you so, please...”

 

“It's too late.”

 

“Please...”

 

“Goodbye,...”

 

What was his name again? That boy from back then, he never asked for his name. Strangely enough, it feels as if he had known it just a second ago. He just forgot. Now he can't remember anymore.

 

“It's too late now.”

 

almost ten years have passed since that incident. That boy never returned. That boy never got to hold his hand. That boy never existed outside his head. He spent all those New Years alone. Eating alone, watching the fireworks alone, standing on this bridge alone. Laughing and smiling alone.

 

That boy died and he lives.

 

Hiro touches the scar on his forehead with his cold fingertips. The skin feels dry from the icy wind. The scar reaches from the tip of his forehead down to his eyes. It was a deep cut, back then he hit his head on a rock when he fell. Even though that boy ran towards him, he never made it. His little hands never reached him, as well as his voice that was carried away by the rumbling noise.

 

Hiro came back every year, he spends his time talking to someone who was no longer there. It was as if he has become obsessed with that unknown boy who tried to save him. That boy grew older in his head. That boy graduated from High School and went to work overseas. That boy lived and Hiro believed that he truly existed. That boy was his home to return to, even though he could never again reach that island on the other side.

 

That boy saved him and destroyed him at the same time.

 

Every New Year, he realizes the truth. But as the clock strikes twelve, his memories wind back and he starts to believe in the unknown boys existence again and again.

 

Hiro found his home.

His home under the blue summer sky.

His home in that bright smile.

 

A nameless boy.

 


End file.
